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the man brought me out through the north gate into the outer court. Then he brought me to the group of chambers opposite the temple courtyard and opposite the building on the north side. 2 The length of the building with the door facing north was a hundred cubits and the width fifty cubits. 3 Twenty cubits opposite the inner court and opposite the pavement of the outer court, the complex rose gallery facing gallery for three levels. 4 In front of the chambers was an inner passageway ten cubits wide and a hundred cubits long, with their entrances on the north side. 5 Now the upper chambers were narrower, for the galleries took away more space from them than from the chambers on the lower and middle stories of the building. 6 For they were arranged in three stories, and they had no pillars like those of the chambers in the courts. Therefore the upper chambers were stepped back from the ground more than the lower and middle stories. 7 There was a wall on the outside fifty cubits long running parallel to the chambers. 8 For the chambers on the outer court were fifty cubits long, while those facing the great hall were a hundred cubits long. 9 The lower chambers had an entrance on the east side as one enters them from the outer court.
10 There was another chamber complex along the wall of the court toward the south, facing the temple courtyard and opposite the building, 11 with a passageway in front of them. These were like the chambers that faced north. These had the same length and width as the others, and their exits, dimensions, and entrances were identical. 12 The entrances to the chamber complex on the south side were approached from the east through the entrance at the head of the corresponding passage, along the matching wall.
13 Then the man said to me, “The northern and southern chambers facing the temple courtyard are the consecrated chambers where the priests who approached the Lord will eat the most holy offerings. There they will deposit the most holy offerings—the grain offerings, the sin offerings, and the guilt offerings—for the place is holy. 14 Once the priests have entered, they must not go out from the consecrated area into the outer court until they have removed the garments in which they minister, for these are holy. They are to put on other clothes before they proceed to the areas for ordinary people.”
15 When he had finished measuring what was inside the temple area, he brought me out by way of the east gate, and he measured all around the complex. 16 He measured the east side with the measuring rod; it was five hundred cubits by the measuring rod. 17 He measured the north side; it was five hundred cubits by the measuring rod. 18 He measured the south side; it was five hundred cubits by the measuring rod. 19 Then he turned to the west side and measured; it was five hundred cubits by the measuring rod. 20 He measured it on all the four sides. It had a wall around it, five hundred cubits long and five hundred cubits wide, to separate the holy areas from the common areas.